The "save a little money" suggestion is a bit silly, the price point on even the Aimpoint PRO is 2X higher, the military grades - IF you can prove made in the US compliance, are $600+.
The Patrol is an excellent case in point - Aimpoint saw shooters wince at the .Gov contract pricing, sometimes more than they had in the gun. Big sales aren't there except on contract. To grab market share, they included the scope mount, as much as $100 MORE for many scopes, and likely don't include the anti dot emitting lens treatment. There's no enemy downrange to see it, and game aren't spooked by a tiny red dot. Animal eyes do that.
On a feature by feature basis, the Lucid has more, and uses one AAA battery. 1,000 hours is what, 42 days constant ON? It has auto off after two hours. It has auto dimming. It has 4 reticles, and range tests show they all shoot to the same point of aim.
You do get what you pay for, doubling the price and getting a PRO means more battery life for the expensive lithuims, and the assurance of their reputation. It does not make the glass breakproof, or the aluminum tube impervious to any impact. The PRO is lighter. That's about it - and were talking a basic aluminum tube with a couple of coated glass elements (not ground lenses,) with an LED. Binoculars in this price range are three times more complex, with multiple focusing lenses that have to range in power or distance. They are not considered cheap, why are red dots with so much less to them?
As said, most of these red dots come from the same plant in China, why are the less expensive ones junk when the major names are made twenty feet over in another assembly line? If it's not certified Berry Compliant on the attached hangtag, it's NOT guaranteed Made in the USA, and the limited amount of production capacity in the high labor cost American market is reserved for contract spec optics. It's the only place it can be afforded, because we won't pay ourselves for our own labor.
Check the country of origin on your tires, that computer screen, even your watch or cell. Triple the MSRP you didn't pay and justify it because it was Made in America. That isn't what most of us do - we pay, and we get what we pay for. That stuff's mostly imported, and it does ok.
